Second fuel tax increase proposal surfaces in Indiana

| Friday, February 21, 2003

Indiana
legislators are considering a second bill to increase the fuel tax to pay
for road work.

HB1687
would send part of the tax money raised to cities and counties to pay for
local street work. Under the bill, the fuel tax in the state, which now
runs 18 cents per gallon, could go as high as 20 cents by 2004 and 22 cents
by 2005. In addition, the tax could never drop below its current rate,
or go down once it increased.

Earlier
this year, another bill, HB1762, also proposed fuel tax increases. That
bill would adjust the fuel tax upward each year to keep up with inflation.